The present invention pertains to an anesthetic container with an anesthetic reserve space.
Anesthetic containers in the form of glass bottles with universal screw cap and a coding collar for special filling devices are filled with an anesthetic, in general, at the anesthetic producer. These prior-art anesthetic containers in the form of glass bottles are transported to the hospital, e.g., in a Styropor package for protection against breakage. The anesthetics are filled there hitherto into the correct anesthetic metering unit and calibrated for one anesthetic only either by means of a special, coded filling tube or filling adapter or by pouring into an open filling funnel.
A filling adapter for filling an anesthetic metering unit with anesthetic is shown in DE 37 20 326 C2.
Both the filling of an anesthetic metering unit by means of a filling tube or filling adapter or by means of a filling funnel is cumbersome, time-consuming. This is especially so in the case of the use of a filling funnel and is linked with the risk for overdosage of the anesthetic due to the possible confusion of the anesthetic added. In addition, the undesired evaporation of the anesthetic into the air of the room is hazardous to ones health.
The anesthetic containers used hitherto are usually not refilled and are disposed of with the domestic waste of the hospital or in the waste glass container.
The object of the present invention is consequently to provide a reusable anesthetic container, which can be filled with anesthetic at the anesthetic producer and subsequently stored and transported in order to be plugged into an anesthesia apparatus and to dispense anesthetic to the anesthesia apparatus in a metered manner and finally to be returned to the anesthetic producer for refilling with anesthetic in a closed cycle after it has released its anesthetic reserve.
According to the invention, an anesthetic container is provided with an anesthetic reserve space. The anesthetic reserve space has at least one movable wall element. The wall element can follow the liquid anesthetic volume.
One essential advantage of the anesthetic container according to the present invention with metering elements arises from the fact that there is no gas volume in the anesthetic storage space, so that a change in the ambient conditions, i.e., the temperature, the pressure or the filling level, has no effect on the anesthetic to be metered.
Another advantage of the anesthetic container according to the present invention is the physical separation between first functional elements, which are arranged on the anesthetic container itself, and complementary, second functional elements in the plug-in unit or plug-in place of the anesthesia apparatus, which first and second functional elements cooperate in order to ensure especially the correct coding and the accurate metering of the anesthetic.
The means for applying a force to the wall element to maintain the liquid anesthetic under pressure, as the wall element is caused to follow the surface of the volume of the liquid anesthetic, may include a mechanical device as well as an adjustable pressurized gas supply. A piston actuator as the mechanical element can also be provided for performing a displacement measurement of the piston corresponding to the position of the piston as well as a force measurement. The displacement measurement provides a filling sensor for sensing the filling level of the anesthetic reserve space.
Two exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be explained below on the basis of the figures. The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.